Nantahala Brewing to host bottle launch party

The craft beer bottling line launch party will be a 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, at Nantahala Brewing Company in Bryson City.

That day, bottles of Noon Day IPA and Dirty Girl Blonde will be available in bombers at the Taproom. The brewery will roll out its flagship brands in 22 oz. bottles for distribution across Western North Carolina in early December.

“It’s been over five years since we began construction on our brewery and taproom. Back then, bottling wasn’t even part of the discussion,” said Joe Rowland, co-owner of the brewery. “It’s hard to believe that we’ve come this far in such a short period of time, especially considering all the challenges we had to overcome to get here.”

Nantahala hasn’t distributed its beer beyond Waynesville since April 2013, based on increased demand for its beer at its taproom and local market. The increased demand and a commitment to keep its brews in the Asheville market, lead to adding some additional tanks and a different packaging strategy.

“Over the last two years, we’ve struggled to keep our production at 100 percent during the off-season based on the slow return of our kegs from the markets in eastern North Carolina that we support during the winter months when things slow down in our immediate market,” Rowland said. “By sending bottled beer instead of kegged beer off to those markets, we will eliminate that bottle neck in our production process.”

Special launch party pricing for the bottles will be $6 per bottle and $60 per case. Retail pricing and wholesale pricing will be announced during the event. Additional launch festivities include local, live music and a rare beer tasting. All proceeds from the $10 donation to participate in the rare beer tasting will be donated to Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to support the Ridgerunner Program on the Appalachian Trail within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.